|
" ... As I walked the beaches with the American
veterans who had returned for this (D-Day) anniversary, men in their sixties
and seventies, and listened to their stories, I was deeply moved and
profoundly grateful for all they had done. Ten years later, I returned to the greatest generation any society has ever produced." -Tom Brokow |
||
|
George "Bud" Nelson
(194?)
|
"It's best not to
speak to paratroopers about saluting. They always ask where you got
your jump boots."
|
"Dad & Grandpa"
Nelson (2003)
|
|
Andy Rooney on
"veterans" and "war heroes" The word "veteran" has been much abused. It is too often associated with the phrase "war hero." The idea that every American who spent time in the Army, Navy or Air Force is a hero is nonsense and it is my clear impression, from having known several, that the real heroes are the least apt to talk about their war experiences. Most servicemen are neither heroic nor cowardly. In battle, they keep going. If they're infantrymen, they move up when they're told to. If they're airmen, they fly the next bombing mission when they're assigned to it. In the Navy, they go where their ship goes. Servicemen do these things not because they're brave but because they aren't cowardly and because the men on the line with them are moving up, flying or taking their battle stations. It's not Rambo stuff. They aren't cowards but that doesn't make them heroes. -Andy Rooney Dad said, "No one could have said it better". |